Laundering machine



' Feb. 14, 1928. 1,658,909

W. W. TRINKS LAUNDERING MACHINE Filed March 29, 1924 2 sheets-snee*h 1 invento/L Patented eb, 1928.- j

UNIT-ED sTATEsPATENT oFF-ICE.

WILLIAM W. TRINKS, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO PULLCLEAN MAN- UFACTURING CORPORATION, 0F BRIDGEEORT, CONNECTICUT,'A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE. l

LAUNDERING MACHINE.

Application filed March 29, 1924. Serial No. 702,986.

.This invention relates to laundering machines and more particularly to laundering machines of the type disclosed inthe pending application Serial No. 516,806, filed November 21, 1921.

The machine of the aforesaid application comprises as its main elementsy av washing means, a inangle, a feeding means for unwinding a rolled towel supported in advance of the washing means and carrying the same through said washing. and mangling means to be operated upon by them in the order named, and a re-winding means for receiv ing the towel from the feeding means after having been passed through the mangle and automatically re-windingthe same into roll form, this entire operation of unwinding, laundering and 11e-winding the towelbeing automatically Vaccomplished in one continuous operation.

The mangle of the aforesaid application comprises a plurality of heated drums about which the towel passes for the purpose of being smoothed and dried in usual -manner.

"Encirc-ling these drums are a plurality ofA laterally spaced bands having on their inner sides a series of inwardly projecting fingers; the function of thesev devices being two-fold, first, to hold the towels in close Contact with the drums when, being drawn thereover in order to facilitate'drying of the same, and second, to maintainthe loose rear 'ends'ovflthe towels in contact with the drums when passf ing downwardly' on the latter, as without these fingers or equivalentholding means the loose rear ends of the` :towels when brought to such position would have a tendency to' drop down and fold on' themselves, thus preventing the rear ends of the towels from. continuingthrough the machine in a smooth yand unwrinkled condition as it is desirable to have them do. in practice however vthat the pressure of the spring lingers of these laterally spaced devices have a tendency to producelscore lines on the towels, and in some instances,- as when thedrums are-toohot, to cause the towelsto become burned or scorched on the lines engaged by the lingers. Because of this, it has heen'one of the main objects of the present invention to provide anl improved means to perform the function of the said drumen# It has been found .blocks carried by the circlingbands with` their attached spring lingers without the objectionable features in-V cident to the use of the latter as'referred to. Other objects and advantages of the inventiony will bel referred to during the detailed description of the invention which fol-y lows. j t Referring now tothe accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, ,in which I liave illustrated only so much of a laundering machine as is necessary for` the properv illustration of the present invention# a Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of a two-druni inangle equipped with myimprovements, the section being taken yon a line just inside of one of the main side frames for the clearer illustration of the parts shown. t f i Fig. 2 is a central verticalsection through the upper inangle drum and itsV directly associated parts.

Fig. 3 is an enlargeddetailshowingf'one end dffone of the presserrollsand its sup-` porting means.

Fig. Li a sectionalelevation of the rear end ofthe mangle,on' a somewhat larger scale than that shown in Figure 1, and the adjoining` mechanism for releasing the towel from the carrier chains, and showing particularly lthe means for producing slack in the towelin advance of its engagement bythe v said releasing mechanism.

YFig. 5 is a deta-ilin top plan of' the said slack producing means.

Similar reference'characters indicate like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The man@ disclosed .in the aforesaid application comprised four heating drums, but

for `the purposes of the present invention I have shown' only two, indicated `at-102 and 103, corresponding with the like numbered drums of the aforesaid application. vThese drums are providedwith journals 106 and 107 respectively, mounted in suitable journal side frames or standards 108, 108. y n Fixedto the opposite'ends of each drum are sprocket wheels 110 about which; the pair of' towelfeedingchains 53 pass in carrying the towels around the drums, these sprocket wheels being of substantially the same di the lower drum.

ameter as that of the drums in order that the towels carried by the feed chains may be held in contact with the drums.

Said drums and their attached sprocket wheels are adapted to be positively driven and this may be accomplished by any suitabley means, such, for example, as the means disclosed in the aforesaid application. rihis comprises an operating cross-shaft 112 having a pinion 116 meshing with a large gear 118 on the upper drum (Fig. 2), which gear 118 in turn meshes with a gear 120 on ln this way both drums of the mangle and the towel feeding chains are positively driven in unison.

I will neXt describe my improved means for holding the towels in contact with the drums. These comprise a series of rollers l() arranged about ythe major portion of the circumference of each drum for engagement therewith and each being carried at its opposite ends in lever arms 11, 11, pivoted at 12 on fixed frames 13, 13, adjacent the opposite ends of the drums. rihese rollers are adapted to yieldingly engage the drums, or thel towels passing thereover, and in order to effect this the arms 11 are provided with extensions 14 with which connect one end of coiled pull springs 15, the opposite ends of which latterv connect with the fixed frames 13, as clearly shown in the drawings. rlhe rollers 1() being thus supporte-d for yielding engagement with the towels and of a length suiiicient to engage the same throughout their full width, have been found to be most eiiicient for holding the towels in proper dr 1in@ contact with the drums and without s 5 e any of the objectionable features incident to the use of the spring lingers heretofore used.

ln addition to holding the towels in drying contact with the drums during their passage over the latter as described, these rollers 10 at the sides of the drums where the towels take a downward path-at the front of the upper drum and the rear of the lower drum in the present case-also serve to prevent the loose rear ends of the towels from dropping away from the face of the drying drums as they otherwise would. In case some such provision were not made to so hold the loose rear ends ofthe towels in contact with the drums, it will be clear that said endsV would not be dried to the same extent as the balance of the towels, and also, that they would have a tendency to drop and fold upon themselves and so become wrinkled during their further passage through the machine, as hereinbefore referred to.

vThe fixed frames 13, 13 upon which the roller carrying` arms 11 and associated parts are mounted, may be of any suitable construction. As here shown they are circular in form to conform generally with the ends of the heating drums andare mounted upon cross-rods of the main supporting frame, the frames 13 associated with the upper drum being carried by cross-rods 16, 17 and the frames 13 associated with the lower drum being carried by the cross-rods 18, 19.

Als ldisclosed in the aforesaid application, the. leading end of each towel is adapted to be detachably connected with the feed or oarrier chains 53 by means of a bar, shown in section at 20 in Fig. 4, which is passed through a loop in the end of the towel and connected at its opposite ends with said chains. lhen this bar, termed the towel bar, has been carried some distance beyond the mangle it is adapted to be released from the carrier chains and transferred to a rewinding mechanism (not shown here). Such release of the towel-bar from the carrier chains is automatically eiected by means of releasing or transfer chains 220 which are operated at a greater speed than that of the carrier chains in order to release the towel-bar from the latter by a movement. in the direction of movement of the feed chains. To do this, it obviously requires a certain amount of slack in the towel adjacent the point where it is taken by the releasing chains from theA feed chains. Such slack is provided -by deflecting the feed chains downwardly beneath the guide wheels 145 in their passage from the guide wheels 143 to the guide wheels 146, as shown in Fig. 4. To control such slack in the towel and maintain the same under proper tension, I provide a plurality of tension rolls, here shown as three in number and indicated at 25, 26 and 27, for engaging the towel at such point, these rolls being inovably supported in order to yield and give off slack under the pulling action of the towel t, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4, which takes place when the towel-bar is advanced from its connection with the carrier chains by the engagement therewith of t-he more rapidly moving releasing chains.

The several tension rolls 25, 26 and 27, are carried at their opposite ends vby a series of connecting links 30, 31 and 32, the l upper ones 30 being pivotally connected with and supported by the ends of the guide wheels 143 k(Fig. 4). Said tension rolls, when in normal position, rest upon a stationary supporting bed 35 mounted upon the frame of the machine in a position between the guide wheels 143 and 145. This bed is provided with slots 36 adjacent its opposite edges to receivethe guide flanges 37 on the opposite ends of the tension rolls, as clearly shown in Fig. 5, and permit the rolls to restv upon said bed, as shown in Fig. 4.

It has been found in practice that this plurality of tension rolls, pivotally linked together and loosely resting upon the bed in the towels much more efficiently than was accomplished by the single tension roll of our aforesaid application g this resulting in part from the fact that it gives a` greater and more uniform tension than was provided with the single roll. The releasing `chains 220 may be Voperated at a greater speedv than thecarrier chains, as and for the purpose above referred to, by any suitable means. Preferably they are so operated by the means shown and described in detail in my aforesaid application SerialNo. 516,806; the said releasing chains being in the forni of endless sprocket chains mountedfon pairs of sprocket wheels 221, 222 and 223,` the lirst two pair being guide wheels and the last pair, 228, being drive wheels mounted on a drive shaft 176. These chains 220 are providedfwitli projections 224 which are moved in paths to engage the ends of the towel bai' 20 adjacent the rear end of the upper run of the carrier chains 53, and, by reason of their moving at a greater speed than the carrier chains, will release said bar from the latter.

What I claim is: y

l. In a mach-ine of the class described, the combination with laundering means, of'a continuouslyv moving towel feeding carrier, towel releasing means moving at a greater yspeed than that of the carrier to release the towel therefrom, and yieldable means operative to produce slack in the towel in advance of its engagement by the releasingmeans, said yieldable means comprising a plurality of towel-engaging rollers carried by a plurality of pairs of pivotally connected links.

2. In a machine of the class described,

the combination with laundering means, of

a continuously'moving towel feeding carrier, towel releasing means moving at a greater speed than that of the carrier'to release the ative to producerslack in the towel in advance of its engagement by the releasing means, said yieldable means comprising a Vtowel therefrom, and yieldable means oper- Y plurality of towel-engaging rollers carried p by a plurality of pairs of pivotally connected links, and a support with which the rollers loosely engage.

3, In a machine of the class described, the combination with laundering means, of a continuously moving towel feeding carrier, towel releasing means moving at a greater speed than that of the carrier to release the towel therefrom,- and yieldable means operative to produce slack in the towel in advance of its engagement'by the releasing means, said yieldable means comprising a plurality of towel-engaging rollers carried by a plurality of pairs of-pivotally connected links, and a support in the form of a stationary 'bed with which the rollers loosely engage.

4l. yIn a machine of the class described, the combination with laundering means, of a continuously moving towel feeding carrier, towel releasing means movingk at a greater speed than that of the carrier to release the towel therefroim and yieldable means operative to produce slack in the towel in advance of its engagement by the releasing means, said yieldable means comprising a plurali-ty of towel-engaging rollers carried by a plurality of pairs ofpivotally connected links, each of said rollers being provided with guide lianges adjacent their opposite ends, and asupporting table with which the rollers loosely engage having slots'to receive the guide flanges on the rollers.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature,

WILLIAM w. TniNKs. 

